Leo Wainer

The center of the Brazil story is not Flavio Bolsonaro but rather Alexandre de Moraes, who has utterly destroyed the credibility of the Brazilian justice system and its democracy through years of escalating persecution against critics, dissidents and political opponents, all while the Brazilian left celebrated him for doing it. That's why countries now routinely reject Brazil's extradition requests in Moraes' cases, and why international media has continuously warned of Brazilian authoritarianism as a result of the censorship and imprisonment regime that the Brazilian left built with Moraes as its leader. (And all of that is separate from the massive corruption scandal he's at the middle of, where his family received $40 million from the corrupt billionaire who caused Brazil's largest-ever banking collapse). If you don't start your "reporting" about the Bolsonaro/US case by emphasizing that it was Moraes who ordered Bolsonaro's passport seized and banned him from leaving the country -- as an obvious prelude to arresting him even though he's been charged with no crimes -- then there's no way to understand what happened here let alone explain to readers and viewers why Flavio Bolsonaro would never have gotten anything remotely resembling a fair trial.

Brazil's Federal Police issues a statement that Flavio Bolsonaro is not considered a "fugitive" from justice because he has not been charged with any crimes and there was no order issued for his arrest when he left Brazil for the US. Part of the motive here is to explain away the embarrassment that Brazilian authorities had no idea what was going on in their country all day, but it is also true that -- contrary to many prevailing media and political narratives in the US -- Flavio has not been charged with (let alone convicted of) crimes and no arrest order had yet been issued when he left.

CRUCIAL FACTS ON THE FLAVIO BOLSONARO MATTER: It's not just Flavio Bolsonaro who fled Brazil to escape the tyrannical persecution of Alexandre de Moraes and the pro-Lula wing of the Supreme Court. There are dozens of Brazilian exiles who have done the same: dissident journalists, activists, bloggers, and politicians who all fled to avoid certain prison for political opposition. In most of these cases, Moraes has demanded the extradition of those who fled and whom he wants to imprison back in Brazil. But Moraes' extradition requests have been repeatedly denied by multiple countries and institutions on the grounds that these prosecutions are politically motivated or otherwise corrupted. Among those concluing this: Spain, Italy, INTERPOL, and even the US under Biden. Just today, Italy refused Brazil's demand to extradite a person named @edutagli, who was once a top aide to Moraes, but then fled to Italy after Moraes accused him of having been my source in a huge leak from Moraes' office that I obtained for reporting I did with @Folha in 2024. That massive leak enabled us to publish roughly 20 articles proving systemic abuses of power by Moraes against his political enemies: exactly the reason so many Brazilians, including Bolsonaro, know they can't get a fair trial in Brazil. Italy today refused to extradite the person accused of being our source on the grounds that the proceedings would be a farce because Moraes — as he so often does — wants to act as the supposed victim, investigator, and judge, and thus his demand falls well outside of Italy's extradition standards. Again, multiple countries have concluded the same, showing what a farce Brazil's once-respected judicial system has become under the Lula/Moraes regime. Moraes has overseen a system of political persecution masquerading as criminal justice that has been recognized as a sham by multiple countries that are not exactly Bolsonaro allies. Nobody in their right mind who is a political enemy of Moraes would remain in Brazil once if it is clear that he intends to imprison you, since he has proven that guilt is a foregone conclusion and he operates with no legal or constitutional limits of any kind. That is why asylum under international law exists: to protect those who cannot obtain justice in their own country because the justice system has been corrupted and commandeered for political persecution. Many people, such as Julian Assange, have needed that protection (which Lula cheered). Now people need it from Moraes in Brazil. That is sadly one of the main legacies of both Lula and Moraes over the last six years.